1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to cleaning compositions and methods for their use and, in particular, to such compositions and methods for removing tile and flooring adhesives from floors.
2. Brief Statement of the Prior Art
When tile, seamless flooring and other sheet goods used as floor covering is replaced, the removal of the floor covering exposes an adhesive residue which, typically is of an asphaltic, polyvinyl acetate, or rubber base composition. Usually the residue is a hard solid having an oxidized surface. In instances where the original application was sufficiently thick, the residue may additionally have a soft plastic consistency beneath the solidified, oxidized surface. It is necessary to remove the adhesive residue since the residue causes unevenness in subsequent flooring and interferes with vinyl adhesives.
The material is presently chiefly removed with mechanical grinding, a labor intensive operation, particularly when the original adhesive has been applied in a relatively thick coating. Some attempts have been made to reduce the mechanical work required by treatment of the adhesive residue with solvents, however, these attempts have not been successful and widely accepted because of the hazardous nature of the solvents which is particularly acute when working in confined areas.
In the development of this invention, we have attempted to reduce the hazards associated with solvents by the addition of solid adsorbent powder with the solvents. While this results in the formation of a dry or solid mixture with the solvent and dissolved adhesive residues adsorbed onto the solid powder, difficulties are still experienced with flameability and toxicity of volatile solvents. We have also attempted to eliminate these problems by using water-solvent emulsions, however, these have generally lacked adequate solvency for efficient adhesive removal.